


STATEMENT #0161121: EXIT

by icannothinkofaname



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Typical Hallways, Gen, Statement Fic, unreality, who would win: the very concept of losing your grip on reality or one edgy boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icannothinkofaname/pseuds/icannothinkofaname
Summary: Statement of Owen Gabriels, regarding his disappearance and what he experienced during the weeks thereof. Original statement taken directly from subject.Statement begins.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	STATEMENT #0161121: EXIT

I was the kid who alway got lost in department stores. It’s not like I ever meant to leave, really. I’d just be lost in thought, thinking about whatever it is kids think about, and I’d only realize I had wandered off when someone asked me where my mother was. My parents hated it. But, they’d hoped it was just some childish nonsense, that I’d grow out of one day, and elected to start holding my hand very tight when we had to leave the house.

That hasn’t worked out as well as they’d hoped. After all these years, I still lose my way almost all the time. My body and my brain just don’t want to cooperate. Or maybe, it’s that my brain likes to go into autopilot mode.

I think that’s how I found myself in that warehouse. Well, I call it a warehouse. That’s my best guess as to where I was. I’d been taking a shortcut through an industrial looking area, trying to find a quicker way home and out of the rain, when I entered the building. So, really, a warehouse or some other place like that is what makes the most sense.

Come to think of it, though, I don’t remember entering anywhere. I must have. After all, I was indoors the whole time. So at some point, I would’ve had to walk in from outside into whatever building I’d gotten lost in. But it all seems to blend together, looking back. As if I’d just turned a corner, and found myself in one of those strange corridors.

Well, no matter how I got in -- I was in. The first part of the building I can clearly remember is a long hallway that seemed to stretch past my vision. That was when I started wondering if something was wrong. I mean, for a hallway to keep going, and going, and going on like that… It’d have to be miles long. But what building could be that big, and not be noticable? It was walking down that impossibly long hallway, that I distinctly remember looking down and noticing carpet under my feet. Had it always been carpet? Did that make any sense? The more I saw of my surroundings, the more the place seemed to resemble an old motel than any sort of factory. But, why had I thought I was in a factory, then? Nothing I was thinking seemed to be congruent with reality, so I just… I just kept walking. Down, and down that corridor until I reached a new door. But when I entered the new room, it seemed almost identical to the one I’d just been in. Had I been looping around? Was this some sort of circle, the edges too subtle to see? Then where could I have gotten in from?

I walked. I walked for as long as I physically could, my brain completely detached from my legs. That dissonance between my mind trying to figure out the world around it, and my body determined to keep on going forward, it’s hard to describe in a way that really captures how I felt. More than a prisoner of that corridor, I felt like I was trapped in my own head. Almost like I was watching someone else moving through their eyes.

At some point, I must’ve given into my exhaustion, because I found myself lying on the floor. Just staring at the miniscule fabric of the carpet, wondering if it was yellow, or green, or some other colour I wasn’t even remembering.

That’s how he found me. I was lying on the floor when I heard the sound of muffled footsteps approaching from behind. It took me a minute to realize they weren’t mine. I didn’t have much time to process that fact, as he was standing over me by the time I realized someone else must’ve been in the hall with me.

Even lying down, I could tell he was much shorter than me. The best way I can describe him is as some scrawny punk with a deflated looking mohawk and the most exasperated expression on his face. He tried to offer me his hand, but when I couldn’t move my arm to meet it, he just… sighed, and picked me up. With a strength I couldn’t have imagined him having.

He sort of propped me up against the wall, making small talk that I can’t quite remember as he fished around a large backpack. When he pulled out a water bottle, it was like all the energy came back in an instant. I snatched the water away from him in a manner I’m almost ashamed of now, and chugged the entire thing down. Still, his expression didn’t change. He just eyed me down, waiting for me to compose myself.

Once I was back to my senses, he started asking me questions. What my name was, did I remember how I got here, how long had I been down here. Normal enough questions, but at the time I struggled to answer. His presence was confusing as much as it was a comfort. I noticed his accent sounded American, and asked if he was a tourist. I don’t know why that was the first thing that came to mind, and from the way he squinted at me I could tell he was thinking the same thing. But he gave a hesitant nod, and told me that we should get going.

It was then that my entire situation came back to me. I could feel that panic setting in, and I had to hold myself against the wall to keep from slipping back onto the floor.

I guess he could sense my fears too, because he told me he was going to find an exit for me.

I think I tried to argue with him. Tried to tell him the futility of our situation, how this hallway wasn’t going to let us out. But the look he gave me as I spoke, like I was completely daft, it made me stop immediately.

Strange as it sounds, this is the part that sticks out the most. More than the days spent wandering that corridor, or everything else about my situation, it’s what he said next that’s clear in my mind. Everything else might be completely muddled in my mind, but clear as day, I can hear his voice.

“Of course there’s an exit,” he said. “How else could I have gotten in?”

I don’t know why that reassured me so much. I don’t know why I decided to follow him as he sped down the hall I’d come to know so well. I don’t know why, or how, or anything about that man. But when he reached the end of the hallway, and opened the door, I wasn’t surprised to see that it finally led back outside.

Of course there was an exit. How else would he have gotten in?

The rest of this story is a blur. I can almost recall going to a hospital, how I’d barely made it into the A&E before collapsing into that strange man’s arms. When I woke up, they told me I’d been missing for two weeks. That my parents were starting to suspect the worst, and how relieved everyone was to find me.

The official story is that I wandered into some abandoned warehouse, got injured by some debris, and was knocked unconscious. A good samaritan found me and helped bring me into a hospital, leaving as soon as I was taken care of. And I believed it, for a couple weeks.

Well, I wanted to believe it. I said before I couldn’t remember how I got inside that building. That… was a lie, I guess. Or, not entirely a lie. That’s why I came here today.

Because when I think back to entering that building… I don’t remember that. I don’t remember walking inside.

But I remember an open door. One that looked very much out of place in that industrial lot. And I remember the feeling of being pushed inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Statement ends.
> 
> Note: The above statement was set aside from the others, in a file marked with the label 'ML.' Two other statements were found here. Further deliberation needs to be made before any connection can be made.


End file.
